From Publishers Weekly
Few narrators could sound complimentary when calling Al Gore a "big honking nerd," but Vowell (Take the Cannoli), a self-proclaimed nerd, succeeds in doing just that while reading her collection of thoughtful, humorous essays on politics, patriotism and Tom Cruise (among other topics). Vowell's thin, reedy voice and halting delivery take some getting used to, but she settles into a comfortable groove by the end of the first tape, when she relates what she's learned from visiting places like Gettysburg and Witch City (otherwise known as Salem): no matter what your troubles are, "it could be worse." This is followed by an upbeat tune by They Might Be Giants, who composed the music for this audio. It's hard to resist a catchy, comical verse like, "You asked for baked potato/and they gave you fries/but that's not as sad now/is it/as the day the music died," but it's even more difficult to resist Vowell's obvious passion for history, for Al Gore and for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The full plate of special guests-including Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert and Michael Chabon-make token contributions: Colbert does an admirable impersonation of Gore and the oddly chosen O'Brien attempts to fill Abraham Lincoln's shoes. In the end, however, it is Vowell's self-deprecating wit and earnest delivery that will win over listeners.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
With a disposition that is less than sunny and an avid enthusiasm for history, Vowell, a contributor to public radio's
This American Life, offers a collection of essays on a variety of historic and modern political events and people. Her crabbiness lets her cut through the cute and precious to observe the underlying gut issues--the tension beneath President Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address, the audacity of a variety of complainants to compare their situations to Rosa Parks' stand against racial segregation. A self-described Democrat and "civics nerd," Vowell recounts the endless debates about the 2000 presidential election among her group of political fanatic friends--"a sarcastic Internet consortium of amateur media watchdogs"--that culminated in a road trip to witness the inauguration, loudly singing the national anthem although their candidate hadn't won. In the title essay, Vowell laments the growing pressure to display patriotism since the terrorist attacks, a pressure that provokes her skepticism. This is a humorous, insightful, and informative look at one individual's sense of patriotism.
Vanessa BushCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
